Couple Hopeful After Sea Disaster

October 7, 2002|By Kevin Krause Staff Writer

He last saw it listing in 10-foot swells as he was hoisted toward the Coast Guard helicopter in driving rain.

Maxwell Smith, 47, and Alice Bond, 54, miraculously survived the doomed voyage last month when their $350,000 sailboat sank more than 600 miles from Florida during a squall. But the avid Palm Beach Gardens sailors couldn't help but feel a piece of them disappear into the ocean along with the boat that was their home and was supposed to fulfill a lifelong dream.

It's been almost three weeks since they were rescued at sea, and the pair still haven't given up hope of running a fishing and diving charter service in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

They set off from Fort Lauderdale on Sept. 10 after spending three years refurbishing their custom-built, 57-foot sailboat, and outfitting it with almost half a million dollars worth of electronics, artwork and furnishings. The Terica II had been built for entertaining, and the couple had loaded it with diving and fishing equipment for the charter service they would run for the next two years.

They tied down a cage with Bond's pet cockatiel, Poppy, and took turns at the helm for the 1,000-mile voyage through the Caribbean.

After a brief overnight fuel stop in Cat Island, they sailed on toward Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. By Sunday, their fifth day at sea, the pair were 15 miles east of the Acklin Islands in the lower half of the Bahamian island chain.

At 11:30 p.m., Smith opened the floorboards as part of his routine engine and generator check. The engines were flooded with about 3 feet of water. "It hit me that we were in the middle of nowhere," he said.

He activated the emergency beacon, which sent their precise position to the Coast Guard. After being unable to contact the Coast Guard by radio, Bond dialed Smith's sister with a satellite phone as the 35-ton boat began sinking.

Almost simultaneously, the sister got a call from the Coast Guard to confirm the mayday. The beacon's signal was programmed with an emergency contact number. The precaution likely saved their lives.

A Coast Guard helicopter arrived about an hour and a half later from Great Inagua Island. By that time, the pair were on the deck of their flooded boat as a squall battered them with 25 mph winds and stirred up 12-foot waves. Below, all of their possessions, including a logbook detailing the past three years of their lives, were lost forever.

The pair hopped into a dingy with Poppy at 3:30 a.m. A man in a wetsuit pulled them one at a time to the basket that hoisted them to the helicopter.

"I thought, we can't let it sink," said Smith, a lifelong sailor. "My heart was broken."

Once inside the helicopter, Bond opened the canvas bag she used to carry Poppy, who was spluttering after spending most of the rescue under water. Alice cried with joy. The next two days were spent at the low frills Coast Guard base, where they were made to feel at home until the next flight out.

"They said it was their most difficult rescue," Bond said. "They saved our lives."

Kevin Krause can be reached at kkrause@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6604.